November 2017

According to the article, "an executive at a large real estate company says it’s time to build more condos in the Puget Sound region, and he’s willing to put the firm’s money where his mouth is."

The gist of the article is that this company, Grosvenor Americas, sees the low inventory in the Seattle area condo market as an opportunity to fill the void in the market by financing developers who might be willing to build condos instead of apartments, which 94% of residential units being built right now will be.

Apparently, this group is in talks with developers of 2 projects in Downtown and one in South Lake Union along with several on the Eastside. The goal is to finance a condo project in our region in the next 12 months.

Hopefully as a result of their efforts, we will see at least one and maybe more current projects shift from apartments to condos here in the next year.

Windermere Real Estate's Chief Economist, Matthew Gardner, releases the Gardner Report every quarter analyzing Western Washington's real estate market by looking at both the residential and commercial/industrial markets, doing financial analysis, and looking into land use and regional economics.

Here is a snapshot of The Gardner Report's Third Quarter 2017 analysis:

Economic Overview

Washington State economy added 79,600 new jobs over the last 12 months - a growth rate of 2.4%

State unemployment rate continues to fall - it is currently at 4.6%, which is essentially full employment

Matthew Gardner anticipates that the Washington State economy will continue to outperform the US due to this expansion and solid income growth

NEXUS has just announced that they are having an Encore Sales Event this weekend on Saturday November 18th from 11am to 5pm, which will debut 16 newly released city suites priced from the mid-$500's. If you were one of those folks who missed out on a studio or urban one bedroom at NEXUS, this is your opportunity.

Where did these newly released units come from? Well, after analyzing market demand, the project team has reconfigured the floor plates on floors 28 to 35, in the "third cube", so that where 8 larger one-bedroom plus den condos once were, there will now be 16 smaller city suites. Each of the 8 larger one-bedrooms will now be two independent units, one a 484 square foot studio and one a 503 square foot open one bedroom. The newly released homes will be priced from the mid-$500,000s to the mid-$600,000s, a price range that was previously sold out at NEXUS.

Some details to note about the Sales Event:

The sales will be first-come first-serve - doors open at 11am

Buyers will enter into a contract and provide a 5% earnest money deposit to secure the condo they want to purchase

They have decided to not allow any further investor purchases for the new release of these 16 units and will be requiring all buyers to sign the purchase and sale agreement indicating they are buying as a primary residence or as a second home

Click here to see a video from the sales team just explaining the new release.

The tower we wrote about back in May, that will be constructed on the small triangle lot between 8th Ave, Bell St and Denny Way where Shilla Restaurant once operated, will now be called The 8 Tower.

According to PSBJ, the tower will also now be taller and contain more units. It will rise to 42 stories and have 312 residential units. There will be open 1 bedroom, 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom units. Only 72 parking spaces will be provided. There will be retail/commercial space on the street level. Amenities for the building will be located on the 2nd floor and on the rooftop and will include a lounge, outdoor terrace and a dog run.

It is still undecided whether or not the building will be apartments or condos. This will apparently be determined by the investors that end up signing on with the project. Stay tuned.

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About the Authors

Marco Kronen is the co-author and a condo Realtor. He and Wendy have worked together serving clients in Seattle since 2007. Feel free to contact Marco here.
Wendy Leung is the founding editor of the Seattle Condo Review. She's also a full-service Seattle realtor.